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conspiracy

Pop-music’s strangest conspiracy theories

I’m not sure if Eminem has yet managed to escape the grasp of the Illuminati—the secret society of string pullers whose ranks he joined years ago in exchange for wealth, fame, and power—but I know he’s been trying very hard.

Numerous people online tell me so. There is, for starters, a Yahoo Answers page that poses the question “Is Eminem trying to break free from the Illuminati?” and offers spirited excavation and analysis of the hidden anti-Illuminati messages Eminem embedded in his song “Not Afraid.” There is a four-page message-board thread titled “Is Eminem an Illuminati slave?”

A YouTube video called “Eminem vs. Illuminati” explains, via solemn text and creepy music, that when the Detroit M.C. titled a song “Cinderella Man,” it was not because the redemptive plot of the 2005 Ron Howard film Cinderella Man echoes Eminem’s own comeback from drug addiction, but rather because, like Cinderella with her wicked stepsisters, Eminem was “forced to do the chores for the Illuminati by sending subliminal messages through his music.”

Ignore any comment-section sheep who bah that this is ridiculous: When that video ends, the hunt for truth has only just begun.

I’m quite fond of Ron Paul. I enjoyed spending time with him for this Atlantic profile. I liked learning about Austrian economics. I like the fact that he thinks differently than other Republicans and has the courage of his convictions. Washington is a more interesting place because of him. And he makes good copy. That’s especially true now that he has become, at long last, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve.

But I have to admit that even I did not foresee, and in fact never could have imagined, Paul’s latest crusade:

He’s skeptical that the United States really has the gold it claims to have in Ft. Knox. And he wants some answers!